BRUFUT WOODS
The end is
nigh!!! We have only a few hours before
we have to leave for the airport so we got up early and went birding for those
last few hours, what else would you do? We met at 6:50am in the lobby of the
hotel picked up our picnic breakfast and walked to the bus. We made the short
journey to Brufut and by 7:30am we were birding.
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| Looking at parrots from the main track through brufut Woods |
There was a
beautiful sunrise and the air was still cool as we began our walk along the
wide track towards Brufut Woods. The air was alive with bird song and hundreds
of butterflies took to the wing as the sun rose, it was a wonderful experience.
We stopped to
watch a number of Senegal Parrots they
were joined by a couple of Ring-necked
Parakeets and a Red-bellied Paradise
Flycatcher. We then turned into the deeper scrub and waited for a Grey-headed Bristlebill to appear, it
was singing and only showed very briefly to a few of us. The circumstances for
the next bird were similar, a Yellowbill
was calling so we tracked it down but only the four taller people in the
group had good views of it, the others had to make do with flight views. Whilst
waiting for the Yellowbill to appear
we found our only Blackcap of the
trip and then we had excellent views of our second Klaas’s Cuckoo. Many other species showed well during the walk but
it was soon time to head back to the bus.
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| Elegant Acraea |
It wasn’t
long before we found our last new bird for the trip, it was Dideric Cuckoo, this bird perched on a
dead twig at the top of a tree in front of us and sat nicely for a short while,
not long enough for me to photograph it but the guys got good pictures of it.
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| not all the birds in the Gambia are bright and beautiful - African Thrush |
So that was
the end of our birding extravaganza in The Gambia, we had seen 303 species
including some rare sightings. All of the group saw their most wanted species
with the Egyptian Plover topping the
bill we had fantastic views of that special bird.
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| my last picture this year - White-crowned Robin Chat seen in the garden of the hotel |
THE END TOTAL FOR THE TRIP WAS 303 PLUS A COUPLE OF SPECIES HEARD BUT NOT SEEN: AHANTA FRANCOLIN AND GREY HEADED BUSH SHRIKE
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PARTICIPANTS WHO CONTRIBUTED ENORMOUSLY TO MAKING THIS TRIP A GREAT SUCCESS. A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO THE FOUR WHO TRAVELED ACROSS FROM AMERICA TO JOIN US, SAFE JOURNEY HOME: VERN, TRISH, LANNY AND BETSY.
ALSO THANKS TO DAVE AND VANDA FROM THE UK WHO FOUND MANY SPECIES DURING OUR OUTINGS AND PROVIDED A LOT OF THE HUMOUR THROUGHOUT, DAVE DROPPED HIS CAMERA HALF WAY THROUGH THE TOUR AND SUDDENLY ALL HIS PICTURES FROM THEN ON WERE IN FOCUS, AMAZING.
Bookings are
now being taken for next year’s trip, please get in touch if you wish to join
us!
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